INFERNO

01.27.13

Guards Blocked Doors at Brazil Nightclub

Germano Rorato/AG/EPA, via Landoc

Horrifying new details are emerging from the fire at a nightclub in southern Brazil that killed at least 232 people and hospitalized 132 in the city of Santa Maria on Sunday. New reports say that bouncers blocked the exits when they first patrons rushing out, thinking they were skipping out on bar tabs. Officials say that about 2,000 people were inside the club when the fire broke out, double the club's maximum capacity of 1,000. "This overcrowding made it difficult for people to leave," an official said. Many of the victims died from smoke inhalation, but some were trampled in the rush to escape. The fire started on the stage and quickly spread to the ceiling.